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London Buses route 133
London Buses route 133 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Streatham and Liverpool Street it is operated by Arriva London. History Route 133 commenced operation on 27 March 1929 as part of a scheme of changes to the 58/59/159 group of routes. Monday - Saturday route 34 (South Croydon - Liverpool Street) was diverted away from London Road and North End to run via Melfort Road, Thornton Heath and Whitehorse Road, replacing route 58 over that section. At the same time, it was re-numbered 133. In 1958, route 133 was introduced on Sundays running through to Hendon to replace the withdrawn sections of routes 43 and 143. The route served the Angell Town estate in Brixton from its construction in the 1970s. On 24 July 1971, the route was withdrawn between Croydon and Streatham Garage, replaced by Route 50 which was converted to One Person Operation (OPO) from this date. By this time, the northern terminus of Route 133 was Liverpool Street seven days a week. Operation at this point was from Brixton (BN) garage using RTs. In 1975, The AEC Routemasters (RT class) were replaced by Daimler Fleetline (DM class) vehicles. However, as with similar conversions on crew-operated routes, the DMs ultimately proved unpopular and unreliable in service and so were replaced on 15 August 1981 by Routemasters that were spare by that time. On 27 October 1984, Streatham Garage closed for rebuilding so Route 133 was extended one-mile south along Streatham High Road to a temporary terminus at Green Lane. In late 1984/early 1985, B20 Daimler Fleetlines (D/DMS class) began operating on Route 133 alongside Routemasters. This was done to re-accustom passengers with doored vehicles as preparation for conversion to One Person Operation (OPO). Conversion to OPO took place on 2 November 1985, which provided the opportunity to absorb much of Route 95 (Cannon Street to Tooting Broadway) which duplicated Route 133 between Elephant & Castle and Streatham. Route 133 was re-routed at Streatham High Road to Tooting Broadway via Mitcham Lane and Southcroft Road, replacing Route 95 which had its southern terminus cut back to Brixton Garage (Streatham Hill, Telford Avenue) and reduced to Monday to Friday peak hour operation only. New Metrobuses had been anticipated for Route 133 upon OPO conversion as Brixton Garage were already running them on Routes 50, 95 and 118. These eventually arrived in early 1986 with Brixton receiving the final production vehicles up to M1440. However, due to pressure on vehicle supply from elsewhere (mainly the result of further OPO conversions at longer established Metrobus garages) all of Brixton’s later examples (with the exception of M1440) were transferred out within a year and replaced by returning D/DMS class. On 6 January 1990, Route 133 passed to London General operating from their Stockwell Garage (SW) with brand new Northern Counties Volvos introduced. From 25 January 2003, the route was withdrawn between Streatham and Tooting, this section was replaced by new route 333. In 2003, the route was converted to low floor using Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs. On 3 November 2007, the allocation was transferred from Stockwell (SW) to Mandela Way (MW) garages. On 23 January 2010, the route passed to Arriva London operating from their Norwood (N) garage with brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400s introduced. On 6 October 2012, the new Streatham Bus Station was opened near to the old Streatham Garage and became the new southern terminus for Route 133. On 3 December 2016, Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300s were temporarily introduced. On 21 January 2017, the route was retained by Arriva London with Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LHs and brand new Enviro 400H City bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs introduced. The allocation was transferred to Brixton (BN) garage at the same time. On 6 November 2017, the route was temporarily revised to finish journeys in Old Broad Street and start from London Wall direct to Old Broad Street. On 12 October 2019, the route was restored to Liverpool Street Station Bus Station. Current route *Streatham Bus Station *Streatham Hill Station *Brixton stations *Oval Station *Elephant & Castle Station *Borough Station *London Bridge Station *Monument Station *Bank Station *Liverpool Street Station Bus Station External links *London Bus Routes Gallery *Full Timetable (PDF) 133, London Buses routes